Is Yorkshire turning into a banking desert?

Kit Taylor/BBC

It's becoming an increasingly common sight in smaller towns across Yorkshire - a high street with no banks.

According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, more than half of the region's local branches have closed in the last 10 years as customers shift to managing their money online.

These "banking deserts" includes Stocksbridge, where five banks had been whittled down to none by 2017. Residents must travel 10 miles to Sheffield to access in-person services.

Éilis Kinsella, from Age UK Sheffield, says that the loss of banks is having a huge impact on older people, with many having to take an hour-long bus journey into the city centre to reach their nearest branch.

"Buses are not extremely reliable and they don't have access to things like toilets, making them a real issue for people who might have incontinence or mobility issues.

"People have to plan out their days now to make that journey that they didn't have to make before," she adds.

"They've lost their community and their independence."

She says that access to in-person banking is crucial for older people, especially for those who are experiencing memory loss and confusion.

"Being able to go to a familiar place, speak to a familiar person, and get receipts reminding them what has happened that day is valuable.

"It helps people keep control of their finances themselves for as long as possible."

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Other victims of widespread closures include people with disabilities such as hearing and visual impairments.

"For hard of hearing people, phone banking is challenging, and for visually impaired people, online banking can be really difficult," Miss Kinsella added.

"I don't think the banks think about the impact this is having.

"In-person banks may be underused, but for the people that use them, they are essential."

A solution has been developed in the form of banking hubs, which are now opening across Yorkshire. Funded by the major high street banks and created by not-for-profit organisation Cash Access UK, they are run by local Post Office managers. Customers from multiple banks can use them.

They provide over-the-counter services such as cash deposits and withdrawals, and every day a representative from a different bank comes in so that people can ask specific questions about their accounts.

Branches can be proposed for communities following the last closure of a high street bank in that area.

An independent regulator, LINK, then assesses the "cash needs" of the town to decide whether a hub should be put in place.

There are already 188 banking hubs across the UK, with 25 of those in North, West and South Yorkshire, and the latest has just opened on Market Street in Wetherby.

Kit Taylor/BBC

"It's very important," says Val Todd, who has come to the opening of the hub.

"Because to get on a bus here and go to Harrogate, it's nearly a two-hour job, you know, just to get banking done."

Howard Wolfenden is visiting the new hub to deposit cash from collection tins for the mitochondrial disease charity My Mito Mission.

"It makes it so that we can actually get the money straight through to the charity and it can then go out to help out with the research, to help the people.

"It means we can actually use the cash rather than it just being scattered around."

Veronica Lewis says that the banking hub is "brilliant", but that she can't come with her husband as he is with Nationwide, a building society which is not included in the hub model.

He has Parkinson's disease and has to be taken by their daughter so that he can still get to his nearest branch in Harrogate.

"It was a big shock when all the banks started closing," says Veronica.

"You never ever thought years ago that would happen."

Kit Taylor/BBC

Peter Costello says that the hub's opening times, 09:00 - 17:00 BST Monday to Friday, could cause some issues, along with only having bank representatives on certain days.

"They're only doing certain hours. Well, I work, you know I set off to work at 7, I get back at half 6.

"If Lloyds hadn't been the bank today I'm not sure what I would have done."

Wetherby joins new banking hubs like Acomb, in York, that have sprung up over the last few months, with branches opening imminently in Ilkley, Morley and Horsforth.

Acomb branch manager Simon Taylor says access to the in-person banks is important to make sure that local communities can still access "traditional banking".

"We do get customers coming in regularly saying they don't do online banking.

"People want to talk to someone over the counter, they don't want to use a machine, they want to see a friendly face."

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